DUCKS
2025 · 5m · United Kingdom
Directed by AJ Jefferies
Genres: animation, comedy, surrealism
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, whimsical
A perfectly normal day in the park turns twisted when a family of CG ducks begins a chain of escalating, laugh-out-loud reveals.
Picked by Felix
The scouts
A five-minute escalation engine that treats CG ducks like a Trojan horse for absurdist chaos—the kind of premise that sounds disposable until it isn't, and you're left wondering what the hell Jefferies actually believes about parks, families, and the social contract.
The escalating reveal structure sits in a lineage of carefully controlled comedic timing—think Buster Keaton's deadpan architectural precision, but filtered through digital surrealism; the editing rhythm is what separates this from mere novelty.
The singular choice here is trusting the CG ducks themselves to carry tonal weight—not as cute mascots but as vectors of wrongness—and that commitment to treating digital artificiality as the actual premise elevates what could've been a gimmick into something genuinely disorienting.
Reviews
What at first looks like a family-friendly Pixar-style animation soon descends into something much more twisted. Although you get a sense early on that something isn't right, the constant reveals in DUCKS make for a truly satisfying viewing experience and honestly, it's just rare to find something that makes you laugh so much, in such a short period of time.